Dan eases back too, but now that so much of his own fear and horror has been eased, he's fully aware it's close than is entirely appropriate still. He doesn't feel any need to move further, though. What daylight has settled into the room won't last long, and it still has a smoky, unreal quality.

"No nightmares," Dan confirms, not entirely able to keep from looking and sounding as happily amazed as he feels. "That-- shouldn't exactly be possible, but it was just sleep." His throat hurts, and he can feel where the skin is trying to heal over under the bandages.

It would be easy to get more information on this, to get Marcus's perspective, but that's not right. Not when Dan isn't sure what's happening. He'll set up a wall, he thinks, like he told Abra, only he'll keep himself in as best he can. He's done it for years; it's exactly what he should do. There's nothing acceptable about digging through the mind of a friend.

Avoidance can look so much like respect.

He tells whoever it is to shut up, but he's aware he's doing a little gazing.